Blind Fayth
by Potter2186
Summary: Join Alex, Yuna, Paine and Rikku as they venture forth around Spira in search of Tidus Plot follows Final Fantasy X2 with major changes they're all good! Please R & R!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: The Mysterious Sphere**

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

I felt like my throat was about to rip. As I opened my eyes, I realized that I had been dreaming...this was the fifth time in two days that I woke up screaming. My eyes stung; my throat hurt; my heart was pounding against my chest like a percussion drummer during a rock concert. Sweat ran down the sides of my face. I needed to relax; I had to get a grip...

"It was just a dream Alex," I told myself, panting. "Only a dream..."

That's all it ever was; just a dream. For the past two days, whenever I closed my eyes for a long period of time, I kept seeing the same horrible image. A large creature called Sin, which I had seen in the video game _Final Fantasy X _was attacking a beach in which a massive operation was underway...creatures called Sinspawn chased after me...it was always the same...

I rolled out of bed, trying to get myself back to normal. As I walked towards my bedroom door, I passed the mirror; I paused in front of it, looking at the person staring back at me. A tall, skinny boy, with tan skin, untidy jet black hair and hazel eyes stared at me...nothing too exciting to look at.

_Knock! Knock!_

"Alex, are you okay?" came a soft, concerned voice. It was my mom. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door slowly. Her dark brown eyes locked onto me. It must've been after seven a.m, because she was already dressed in her work clothes.

I sighed. "I'm fine mom,"

"Are you sure? You don't look well...Why do you look so pale? Are you coming down with something? Honey, you're sweating; I'd better check your temperature. Stay right there. Don't move," she said in a frantic voice as she scurried away. I could hear her footsteps going in all sorts of directions. The one thing about my mom is when she's concerned; she basically declares a state of emergency.

I turned around and walked toward my window, turning on the AC as I sat down on my bed. It felt like a boiler room in here.

My mom came running back into the room, armed with a digital thermometer, water, and what looked to be aspirin.

"Here, put this under your tongue," she said quickly, her hands shaking.

"Ma, I'm fine...trust me--"

"PUT IT UNDER YOUR TOUNGE!" she roared.

I sighed, as I grabbed the thermometer and thrust it under my tongue. _What the hell was wrong with her, I thought. I told her I was fine...geez..._

About thirty seconds later, she reached forward and yanked the thermometer out of my mouth. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"_98.7 degrees_! T-That cant be right! Honey! You have a fever! lay down!"

I couldnt help but start laughing. "Ma, 98.7 degrees is _normal_ body temperature,"

She stared at me for a moment. "Well, I still don't trust it. You're staying home from school," and for the first time, I did not argue back. Hey, if having a normal body temperature could keep me home from school, I should try and cough more often, I thought.

"I'm going to have to call out--"

"No," I said quickly. "Its fine...No, I'll be fine mom. You need to go to work; besides I'm 18; I can take care of a small fever," I said, trying to sound a little weaker than before. Convincing her to go to work when I was sick was as hard...but to me utter disbelief, she agreed.

"Alright, fine. _BUT_, the moment you feel like you can't handle it, call me,"

I nodded as she kissed me on the forehead. Fifteen minutes later, she was out the door.

I didn't even know what to do first. I was home, alone...and the good part about it was, it was the middle of June; summer was right around the corner, which meant I could go outside and take a dip in the pool. I threw on some swimming trunks, and grabbed a towel, as I headed down stairs, and out the kitchen door into the backyard.

As I headed outside, the summer air engulfed me; it was very warm and humid. I looked down at the swimming pool as I approached it. The swimming pool was calling for me; I had the entire pool to myself for the entire day. I set my towel down, and dove into the pool, as the cool water surrounded my body. It felt good. I opened my eyes for a split second, and noticed something on the pool floor. It was a orange sphere, a little bigger than a baseball. What was it? I swam down and grabbed it, and swam back to the surface. I climbed out of the pool, dripping wet, and set the sphere down on the floor.

"How'd this get in my pool?" I asked myself.

I stared down at the sphere for a moment, trying to figure out where it came from...or even, what it was used for...when suddenly a blinding flash of orange light came out of no where. I closed my eyes and then opened them again; everything was black. It was like I was standing on nothing. Everywhere I looked was pitch black...

"W-what the hell is going on?" I asked myself, my voice shaking slightly. Where was I?

"Dont be afraid," came a voice.

I felt like someone had knocked all the wind out of me as I spun around to see the source of the voice. I was staring at a child, no older than twelve or thirteen. He was smaller than me; his face was covered by the hooded jacket her wore; his purple shorts were torn at the bottom. I'd seen this boy before...in _Final Fantasy X..._What was he doing here?

"A Fayth?" I asked.

The boy nodded.

"But...thats impossible; You're...you're not real. You only exist in a video game...video games arent real," I said, as my heart sped up. _What the hell was going on?_

"Ah, but I _am _real...as real as you are," said the Fayth calmly. " I was hoping you would remember me,"

I let out a small laugh. "How could I forget you? I play that game almost every day,"

"Hmm...so it seems. Well, I haven't much time, so I will make this short," said the Fayth. "Spira needs you,"

"S-Spira...needs m-me?" I stammered. How the hell could Spira need me?

"Yes. You are familiar with Lady Yuna's pilgrimage, are you not?"

"Yeah. She defeated Sin, and brought about the Eternal Calm," I answered.

"That is correct...but now...Spira is in trouble again...and maybe you can be the key to saving Spira,"

I stared at the Fayth. Spira isn't in trouble anymore, I thought. Yuna defeated Sin. Spira was safe...

"How? Didn't Yuna destroy Sin?"

"It's not Sin...its something else...something that is much worse than Sin ever was,"

What could be more worse than a creature being reborn every ten years and halting the advancement of civilization?

"What is it?" I asked.

"It is difficult to explain. Come to Spira, and see for yourself..."

"C-Come? To Spira?" I asked, shocked. "I cant just up and leave you know! What will my mom think if she came home and found me gone?"

"Do not worry. Just leave that to me. Please...come to Spira...help us...we Fayth have been summoned again...our dream finally ended with the destruction of Sin, but now...something brought us back; a force more powerful than Sin,"

I didn't even know what to say. However, everything just seemed to fall into place. Maybe the dream I was having was kind of a warning. Maybe it was supposed to lead to this. I stared at the Fayth, and then nodded.

"Sure, I'll go to Spira,"

"Thank you," said the Fayth.

"Just...er...gimme a minute. Let me go and change,"

"No need," said the Fayth, and he snapped his fingers. Instantly, I was clothed. I was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. I looked down at my feet and saw my white K-Swiss. This was comfortable, I thought.

"Thanks,"

"I am not sure where you'll end up, but I am sure you can work out how to find Lady Yuna. You must stay with her at all times...also, I bestow this upon you," said the Fayth, raising his hand. A shimmering red light engulfed my body, and I could feel myself gaining some sort of power...it was a wonderful feeling. The light disappeared.

"What was that?"

"The power of Black Magic...It is up to you to advance," said the Fayth. "I'm sure Miss Lulu can teach you how to use it...but I'm afraid things have changed in Spira," he continued.

"Changed? How?" I asked curiously.

"See for yourself..."

Suddenly, my mind felt empty...everything seemed to slide away...my eyes grew heavier, and I could no longer see the Fayth. I couldn't think...I didn't know who I was...What was happening to me? Where was I going?

"Good luck...Spira's fate rests within your hands,"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Follow that Moogle **

I slammed down upon something hard and warm; I could feel the sun beaming down upon the back of my neck. My brain seemed to be able to function, though I felt a little dizzy. My body felt like it was on fire having landed on the hard stone floor. I opened my eyes, and adjusted them to the light; _Where was I? _The sound of ships moving on a harbor nearby; the sound of seagulls flying overhead; the sound of people talking…all of this passed through my ears. But then--

I slammed down upon something hard and warm; I could feel the sun beaming down upon the back of my neck. My brain seemed to be able to function, though I felt a little dizzy. My body felt like it was on fire having landed on the hard stone floor. I opened my eyes, and adjusted them to the light; The sound of ships moving on a harbor nearby; the sound of seagulls flying overhead; the sound of people talking…all of this passed through my ears. But then--

"You alright?" came a deep voice, with what I took to be a Jamaican accent attached to it. I knew that voice; I turned over on my back, and looked up at the source of the voice; my stomach did a summersault. Standing there at roughly six feet, one inches, Wakka stood; he had orange hair and hazel eyes; he was wearing the same Baggy yellow sweat pants; strange looking flip flops, and that strange contraption on his right hand from _Final Fantasy X. _He was wearing a vest of some sort as well; it was amazing how defined his body looked when looking up at him.

"Uh…yeah," I said as he extended his hand. I grabbed hold as he lifted me to my feet. I began dusting myself off, but all the while, keeping my hazel eyes locked on to Wakka. I couldn't believe it; this was real…he was actually standing in front of me.

Wakka grinned. "You don't have to stare, ya? I know I'm good-looking, but geez, cut me some slack," he said running his hand over through his hair.

I quickly unlocked my gaze. "Sorry,"

"Its alright. That was some fall, eh? You just appeared out of nowhere, like you fell from the sky,"

At this point, I looked around and realized where I was. I was standing at the foot of the stairs leading to what I guessed as the Mi'hen Highroad. I was standing at the top most part of Luca, the second largest city on Spira.

"Luca," I whispered, walking towards the railing so I could get a better view. The city did indeed look pretty from up high; the Blitzball stadium was huge, compared to what I saw in _Final Fantasy X. _The docks surrounding it were large too.

"Beautiful, aint it?" Wakka asked, walking over to me. "Too bad I'm gonna have to leave it though,"

I turned to him. "Where are you going?"

"Back to Besaid, ya? I'm about to be a father. I cant leave Lu all by herself; she'd kill me," he said, and I my eyes widened. _Wakka, a father? No…I had to be dreaming; Wakka and Lulu, together?_

I didn't know what to say, but I said the first thing that came to mind. "Congratulations,"

"Thanks," Wakka said, smiling. "I better be going. Can't miss the boat. You be careful, ya? Oh, could you do me a favor?" he asked, as he began walking away, but then stopped.

"S-sure,"

"Could you tell Yuna I said hey? I haven't seen her since she left Besaid, and that was three months ago. Tell her Wakka said hey, and that everyone in Besaid misses her. Hope she's having fun with Rikku,"

And with that said, Wakka ran off down the stairs, and deeper into the city of Luca. _Wait a minute…Yuna left Besaid? Since when…? Last I checked, she returned to Besaid after bringing the Calm…was this what the Fayth was referring to when he said things have changed in Spira?_

I had so many questions about the "new" Spira I was on. Apparently, I didn't know where to start. _Well, _I told myself. _First things first. I gotta find Yuna..._

But Luca was the second largest city on Spira; Where on earth was I supposed to start looking?

"Where'd she go?"

I whipped around toward the place where Wakka had run off and to my immense surprise, I spotted a familiar face; her blonde hair was in some sort of weird hairdo; her eyes were two different colors; I noticed that she was wearing _far _less than what she wore when I saw her in _Final Fantasy X. _It was Rikku. She looked more jolly than ever. Standing next to her was a new face; someone I had never seen before. She was standing at about five feet, seven inches. She was wearing black pants, and a strange looking black shirt. She wore boots which in my opinion looked ridiculous. Her hair was cut short, and her bang looked a little cool to me...this girl was obviously goth. There was an oversized Moogle standing with them.

However, Yuna was not with Rikku, as I thought she would be.

"We'll be back in two shakes, so be a good moogle," said the excited voice of Rikku. The oversized Moogle that was there, simply bowed its head, as Rikku and the other girl darted off towards the place where Wakka had left. _Where was Yuna?_

"I guess I should follow them," I muttered to myself, walking off after the Moogle, which I began to take in...it was a little strange; of all the _Final Fantasy _games I played, Moogles were definitely _ALOT _smaller than that one...I had a gut feeling that this Moogle could lead me to Yuna. We headed down the staircase into one of the large squares of Luca. I looked around; Luca definitely looked alot prettier than in the game...as I turned away, the Moogle got called over by a bossy guy, who ordered the Moogle to pass out balloons. It was tiresome to watch, but eventually the Moogle succeeded. It took about fifteen minutes..._I wonder where Rikku and that other girl went?_

Suddenly, as the Moogle walked passed me, I heard something; something like a radio transmission:

"Y...R...P...in position. Its showtime, girls," came the voice of Rikku. The Moogle let out a screech, and it wasn't a Moogle screech either; Something was definitely weird...and then...

"Oh no! It's starting!"

I knew that voice...it had to be Yuna. Before I could approach it, the Moogle darted away, towards the Blitzball stadium. I ran after it; it sure ran fast...

Finally, at the Blitzball stadium, I watched as the Moogle tried to gain admission inside, but the Guard turned it away, prompting that tickets were sold out. The Moogle turned away, and if its face wasn't a mask, I bet it would have been upset. Suddenly, the guard that was standing at the entry changed; it was now wearing a mask which resembled a gas mask, and green tights. It was approached by another person dressed exactly the same.

"We've got gatecrashers!" said the second man.

"Probably those sphere hunters!" said the first. The two of them disappeared. _Gatecrashers? Could that have something to do with Rikku and that other girl?_ The Moogle looked around frantically. It walked down the stairs from the stadium, and began walking towards the dock area. I didnt know whether to follow, but I thought maybe if I did, I could find out if it was Yuna or not. Then, I heard Rikku.

"Hold still!" she yelled. The Moogle jumped from fright, and I heard Yuna's voice again;

"Its me!" she shrieked from inside the Moogle Suit.

However, Rikku wasn't talking to her. She was talking to--_Yuna?_

A girl that shockingly resembled Yuna ran passed. She was wearing a black dress like garment; it was very pretty indeed. Her hair was much shorter than in _Final Fantasy X. _She was wearing high black boots. The outfit made her look like a stripper...in my opinion. The Moogle cowered near a stack of boxes, while Rikku, the goth girl, and Yuna raced onwards towards Dock 4. I decided to follow them.

On Dock 4, Rikku and the other girl stood alone, frantically looking around. The Yuna they were chasing disappeared. I stood to the side, not wanting to interfere.

"She runs too fast!" Rikku said, breathing hard.

"You're too slow," came a slow voice from behind me, which made me nearly wet myself.

"Ha! Show's over!" came a high pitched voice.

Two men appeared. One was tall, and skinny while the other was short and squat. Both were dressed very funny. _I see Spira's dresscode hasnt changed_...

Suddenly, gun shots rang through the air, and I covered my ears. I whipped around and saw..._Yuna!_ She was standing with her legs spread apart and pointing two hand guns towards the two men who had cornered Rikku and the other girl. She was wearing a different outfit; that means the other Yuna I saw was a fake...she had on a pair of blue denim shorts, and a long flowery looking thing that went all the way down 2 her ankles. Her shirt was pretty too. She looked much different than in _Final Fantasy X. _She then ran forward, and leapt over the two men towards Rikku and the other girl, aiming her guns at the two men again and firing at their feet. It was a very interesting sight, as she landed on her feet.

Suddenly, another voice rang out.

"Thats quite enough sniveling boys!"

It was the other Yuna.

"My, My, you are persistent aren't you?" she sneered.

"Give us back Yunie's Garment Grid!" Rikku said.

The girl laughed. "Haven't you ever learned to share?"

_This was all very interesting to watch..._I thought.

"Give it back!" the real Yuna said angrily tightening her hold on the guns.

"Fine, its yours!" said the Imposter. In a flash of light, the imposter was revealed. The girl was wearing a pink gown, which was open and nearly exposed her chest. She had blonde hair, and crystal blue eyes. She tossed a sphere to Yuna, who caught it and instantly, the same outfit that was on the imposter, appeared on Yuna.

"But it wont be yours for long!" she said, snapping a fan like object out of her hands.

_A battle? Cool! Time to show my stuff!_

"Hey, leave them alone!" I shouted running towards Yuna's group.

"Get lost or you'll get hurt little boy!" said the tall man.

"Try me!" I yelled.

The girl in the middle launched her first attack. She waved her fan as a semi-tornado kicked up, and launched itself at us.

I focused on using a fire spell, and watched as a stream of fire issued from my hands towards the tall skinny man.

"Nice one!" Rikku said, as she ran forward and struck the squat man with what appeared to be a combo hit.

Yuna then began to sing into the microphone. _Since when did Yuna sing?_ Her voice sounded like an angels. I instantly felt myself become more powerful, as a blue light shimmered around our bodies. Rikku and the other girl ran forward and attacked the tall man.

"Stop your slacking this instant!" snapped the blonde haired woman as she turned toward the tall man, and cast some sort of protective spell over him; his body turned yellow then white, then the light disappeared. She must've headed him...

"Paine, try your _flametounge _attack!" Rikku said to the goth girl. _So, her name was Paine_, I thought.

Paine stepped forward and held up her sword, which then turned into a fiery blade. She ran forward and struck down the squat man, who then fell backwards, defeated. I tried my fire spell once more on the tall man, while Rikku and I struck with their attacks at the same time, thus defeating the tall guy. The Blonde haired girl looked stricken. She turned from left to right, and said:

"Next time, I wont go so easy on you!"

She then ran off.

"Hey boss! W-Wait!" said the squat man, leaping to his feet and sprinting off after her. The tall man followed them.

"Come back here!" Rikku yelled.

"Oh well," sighed Yuna. Suddenly, Yuna's feet began moving in a dance step. We all stared at her. She looked down at her feet, looking shocked and confused. Suddenly, she began to break out into a faster dance, spinning and moving her feet to the groove of a beat none of the rest of us could hear.

"W-What's going on?" she asked, as she continued dancing.

Finally, after several seconds of random dancing, Yuna regained control of her feet.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"Guess I got a little carried away," She said with a nervous laughter. Rikku raised an eyebrow while Paine simply shrugged. They all then turned their attention to me. _Oh...I guess this is the part where I introduce myself, _I thought.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Alex,"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rikku; that's Paine, and that's--"

"Yuna, yeah, I kind of figured it out earlier," I said.

The girl named Paine stood a little ways away from the group. I couldn't help but give her a small smile, which she did not return.

"That was some good black magic work earlier," Rikku said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. _Someone's had a little too much sugar today, _I thought, grinning. Rikku was _never _this bouncy in _Final Fantasy X. _

"Thanks. So, what was that all about? The whole chasing the tacky blonde girl thing?"

"Oh," said Yuna. "Well, let me explain. We chased her here to Luca because she stole my garment grid--"

I felt like I had to ask this question. "What's a garment grid?"

"Well...its a bit hard to explain. We'll let Shinra explain it to you," Rikku said moving around with lots of body movement.

Paine, who had been silent the entire time spoke. "So, this kid is coming with us?"

"Kid? I'm nineteen," I said, feeling slightly angry. She was a little rude...

"Sure, why not? We could always use someone like him in the Gullwings," Yuna said happily.

_Well, mission objective complete_, I thought.

Suddenly, a radio transmission was heard.

"Yuna! Is everything alright?" came the voice of a man with a heavy accent.

"Everything is good! Come and pick us up!" Yuna spoke as her outfit changed back to her regular one.

Suddenly, the sound of a loud engine could be heard and I looked over towards the ocean, to see a large airship coming towards us; it was huge; The front of it had two large claws which looked like crab claws and the rest of the airship was huge; it was bright red with blue outlining.

_So, I guess Machina are no longer forbidden, _I thought, as a rope descended from the airship to the dock. Rikku, Paine and I began boarding, but then I looked back, and saw Yuna standing alone facing opposite us towards the ocean. She seemed to be lost in thought. I stopped walking.

_I remember when she used to do that...in Final Fantasy X. She'd look back...because she was saying good-bye to all the places she'd never see again, _I thought. Those were _his _words...but now, what could Yuna be looking back for?...Could it be..._him_?

I started walking back towards Yuna, and finally when I was close enough, I spoke. "You alright?"

She looked a little startled, but then she put on a smile quickly. "Yeah," she said solemnly.

_I didnt know if I was allowed to tell her where I was from...but knowing me as I knew me, I couldnt keep my mouth shut..._

"No you're not, I can tell," I said looking at her. "I remember you used to do that two years ago. You'd look back into the distance to the places you'd never see again...or so you thought,"

Yuna stared at me, but it wasnt a stare of anger. It was a stare of understanding. "How did you know that?"

_And so I launched into the entire story of what who I was and where I was from. During my speech, she did not look at me like I was crazy...which made me feel slightly better. I told her how I knew about her journey two years ago, but I didnt tell her about what the Fayth told me...about Spira being in danger...I didnt want to scare her. I know it seemed wrong, but..._

When I had finished, Yuna let out a small laugh.

I looked taken aback. "D-Did I say something funny?" I asked.

"No...its just...You remind me of him," she said.

"Of...Tidus?"

"Yeah. Being so new to all of this...not knowing what was going to happen to him,"

_She was right...I had no idea what was going to happen to me. And it was that day, standing on the dock I realized that I too, like Tidus wasnt going back home..._

"Well, I kinda got one leg up on him...I know much more about Spira than he did,"

She chuckled. "True,"

"Guys!" came Rikku's perky voice from the ladder. "Come on!"

"We're coming," I called over to her. I turned back to Yuna. "Dont worry...I think he's still alive, somewhere," I said. She quickly looked at me.

I nodded.

"How do you know?"

"Because when I saw you're pilgrimage two years ago, at the end, Tidus woke up somewhere...I don't know where it was, but he was still there; he didn't disappear like everyone thought...he's somewhere,"

She smiled. "Kimarhi also found something too...a recording...come on, I'll show you on board!" she said, as she ran off towards the airship.

_Well...I guess this was my story...and it began here..._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: **Towards Mt. Gagazet

Yuna and I finally made it on board the huge airship. And when I say it was huge, it was _huge_. We were standing on the loading dock, which is clearly where they usually disembark and re-board whenever they land. The walls were all silver, and gleaming, as though freshly polished. Something about this airship seemed very familiar…like I had seen it before. Yuna walked towards a door which opened automatically. We were on the bridge.

The windows were huge. It was like watching a movie on a large flat screen television; only ten times larger! There were three seats in the pilots area; two of them were empty, while the other was occupied. Near the entrance to the bridge was a large computer system, which had many blinking lights and was being run by a small child…or what I thought to be a child.

"You sure looked like you were having fun," said Rikku cheerfully as Yuna and I emerged deeper onto the bridge.

Paine was standing a little was away, on the ramp that lead down to the pilots area. There was another man standing some feet away from her. I knew who he was. It was Brother, one of Yuna and Rikku's relatives from _Final Fantasy X_. Nothing had changed about him; He was stranger looking in person; the weird make up on his face made me think of a drag queen, but I kept my thoughts and opinions inside my head.

Yuna smiled. "I was. It felt like someone else's excitement just took over me," she said.

The little boy at the computer stood up on his chair, looking over towards us. "That can happen when you use the Garment Grid," he said, sounding ever so nerdy and geeky. He was wearing one of those weird gas masks and heavy clothing, as though he was going to walk on the moon. "The emotions of the person recorded in the sphere pass to the user," he continued.

Rikku scratched her head curiously. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"I can't say," the kid replied simply.

"What? It's _your _invention!" Rikku snapped.

The kid took a moment to respond then said "I'm just a kid," and turned around in his chair and resumed messing with the computer system. I couldn't help but laugh to myself.

Brother cleared his throat, as Yuna, Rikku and I walked down the ramp towards him.

"Dancing Yuna, I want to see!" he said, his Al Bhed accent thick, but I was shocked to see that he spoke clear English.

Yuna chuckled. "Alright, it'll cost you," she said.

Brother smiled. "Okay,"

He began rummaging through his pockets, as though looking for actual gil. Rikku and I laughed. Brother looked up at us. "What?"

"She was joking," Paine said shaking her head.

Suddenly, alarms began sounding at the same time. I couldn't help but jump slightly.

"Incoming data," said the man sitting in the chair on the far left. I had never seen him before. He was dark skinned, and was wearing the same outfit as brother (Sweat pants and a vest and shades).

"Ehlusehk tydy! Gullwings, du ouin cdydeuhc!" Brother screamed in Al Bhed as he jumped into the middle pilots' chair. I was guessing that was the main chair.

I leaned over towards Yuna. "I'm lacking in the Al Bhed department," I said.

Yuna smiled. "He's just received some data. He was just telling everyone to go to their stations,"

"Oh," I said. "I figured as much,"

"Come on, I'll need to give you a tour so your better prepared on things around here," she continued. She pointed to Brother. "That's—"

"Brother…yeah, I remember him," I said.

"Good," she said. She pointed to the man in the far left pilots' chair. "That's Buddy. I'm not sure if you know, but he was on Cid's airship two years ago when we were fighting Sin,"

_Two years? Wow…so two years had gone by from the previous adventure?_

"And that's Paine," she said. "I look up to her as a sphere hunter...and also as a friend. I still don't know her very well. She's not exactly the talkative type. I heard she joined the Gullwings shortly before I did... Rikku doesn't know much about her either," Yuna explained. I nodded, indicating I understood. Paine then looked at us.

"What?" she asked aggressively.

"Er…nothing," I said, leading Yuna away from her and back up the ramp. "She's kinda mean," I said in a whisper.

"Don't worry, she's harmless," she said as Rikku came running up behind us nearly scaring the crap out of me.

"Having fun?" she asked excitedly.

Yuna and I both nodded as Rikku walked away towards the computer the little kid was using.

Yuna turned to me. "It all began when I saw this sphere of him. At least, it looked like him," Yuna explained. I listened intently. "I couldn't say for sure. I thought I might find more spheres like it if I joined the Gullwings. So I did,"

_A Sphere recording Tidus...It didn't sound out of the ordinary…in fact, it kept me guessing._

"Oh, in case you're wondering, the Gullwings are sphere hunters, and sphere hunters are, well... This! We fly all over Spira, collecting sphere's which can sometimes be recordings of the past, or special items and abilities,"

I nodded. "I'm starting to catch on," I said smiling. I looked at the little kid. "Who is that?"

"Oh, that's Shinra. He's an Al Bhed…he's a real whiz kid," Yuna explained. "He claims he knows everything,"

Shinra stood up in his chair, and looked over at me and Yuna.

"So, he's a new member?"

"Yeah! He's an awesome fighter!" said Rikku cheerfully. "Never seen someone use Black Magic the way he does…he may have Lulu beat," she laughed.

_Trust me; I could become better than her if I wanted to…_

"I'll have to create a Garment Grid for him. It won't take very long,"

"What's a Garment Grid?"

"It's a special grid I created. Much like the Sphere Grid, it's designed to harness special dress spheres all over Spira. These spheres once belonged to people of the past…it's a cool invention, only thought of with my brilliant mind," Shinra said.

_Someone's getting a little ahead of themselves…_

"Alright, hold still," Shinra said.

A beam of yellow light engulfed my body. It felt comforting. I began to feel some sort of unknown power running through me. The light disappeared, but the power still remained in me. I looked around at Shinra. "Did it work?"

"See for yourself,"

I looked down at my outfit. "Whoa!"

I was wearing a pair of black and gray pants, which resembled that of a person in the military. My shirt matched it, but there were all sorts of silver chains, and strings hanging from the outfit, that only enhanced how cool it looked. I was wearing black gloves, and my hair had turned spiky. (I saw this through my reflection on the mirror Yuna just held up in front of me). Even my eyes changed color; they were now a flaming red.

"This is so cool!" I said happily.

"That's the Black Mage Dress Sphere," Shinra explained. "Its up to you to enhance the powers you have, but you should get the hang of it very quick…As you guys find more spheres, you can switch off between other Dress Spheres, which let you use different attacks,"

I nodded.

"How do I return to normal?"

"Easy. Just think about Normal,"

I did as he said and thought about my old outfit. And then suddenly, a blue light engulfed me and when it disappeared, I was my old self again, in my normal clothing.

"So you're all set," Yuna said smiling. "You're officially a Gullwing!"

"Sphere wave analysis complete!" said Buddy from the computer he was operating in the pilots area.

"Where was it coming from?" Rikku asked, leaning over the railing.

_Someone was going to have to decrease the amount of sugar she consumed…_

"Mt Gagazet," Buddy said turning to her. "Yuna?"

Yuna smiled. "Gullwings! Move out!"

_Little did I know that after this day, my life was going to change. It was hard for me to believe that I was here, but I was starting to see, like Tidus did, that this was my new reality, and I was stuck. There was no Sin to take me back home…I had to deal with this new reality. _


End file.
